Modified: 2007-01-26
Table 1.1
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Physical Science |
Biological Sciences |
Social Sciences |
Computational |
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Astronomy |
Agriculture |
Anthropology |
Information, Computer, & Communication |
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Atmospheric |
Biology |
Linguistics/Language |
Mathematics |
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Chemistry |
Medical |
Psychology |
Statistics |
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Geology |
Neuroscience |
Economics |
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Geography |
Pharmacological |
Geography |
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Physics |
Political |
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Scientific Disciplines (Derived from American Association for the Advancement of Science Membership Categories)
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Table 1.2 APA List of Psychological Topics
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Stop & Think Psychological Theories and You Before you read below about social science theories, take this survey. It will reveal what you think psychological theory is (or what you think it should be). 1. It is only a matter of time and effort before psychology discovers laws like those in physical science theories. True or False If you answered True, see Section 1 in Table 1.3. If you answered False, go to question 2. 2. Psychological theories will always be narrowly defined, more restricted versions of physical science theories. True or False If you answered True, see Section 2 in Table 1.3. If you answered False, go to question 3. 3. Using simpler models of complex psychological processes is a good way to study psychology. True or False If you answered True, see Section 3 in Table 1.3. If you answered False, go to question 4. 4. Psychology is a kind of exclusive club that I want to join. Taking this course is one of the first steps toward membership. After I am initiated, I will understand things about psychology that non--members of the club do not. If you answered True, see Section 4 in Table 1.3. If you answered false, go to question 5. 5. The world is a bad place, but by becoming a psychologist I can help make it better. If you answered True, see Section 5 in Table 1.3. If you answered False to all five, our effort to classify you as a theorist has failed! |
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Table 1.3 Psychological theories and you&emdash;What your answers mean. 1. You are waiting for psychology to move from law--oriented to ideal theories. 2. You are a law--oriented theorist. 3. You are an idealizing theorist. 4. You are a constructivist. 5. You are a critical theorist. |
- Theories in Natural Science
- Ideal notion of theory: Ideal theory
- Hawking's view of theory is of this type.
- Theories in Biological Science
- Evolutionary biology is non-experimental so its theories do not fit ideal theories
- Theories in Social Science
- Historical adherence to ideal theories
- Historical lack of success in discovering laws of nature (i.e., like gravity, relativity.
- Types of Social Science Theories (Mjøset)
- Law oriented-middle range theories in specific contexts (Merton). These theories must avoid broad generalizations and thus, limit themselves to narrower domains.
- Idealizing-theories that only apply to limited and ideal sets of conditions, i.e., mathematical modeling, rational choice theory. Idealizing theories suffer from lack of external validity. Their theories assume perfect knowledge of the ideal situations, thus when deviations from those ideal situations occur, theoretical predictions suffer mightily.
- Constructivist-rejects deductive-nomological ideal. Everyday knowledge and scientific knowledge are closer and the barrier between them is fuzzy. This is because scientists are humans too and have created a scientific community. In this view, scientists create their own traditions and socializing events. Cognitive Science is good example of constructivism, as is anthropology (thick description, a qualitative method). Analogies are allowed as explanatory mechanisms for observation, but within fuzzy limits. Theories in this area are not parsimonious.
- Critical Theory-"Social science is defined not by its stock of universal laws, but by its commitment to universal ethical principles." (Mjøset, 2002, p. 15646) Critical theory also rejects deductive-nomological ideal, but unlike constructivism, seeks a universal, an ethical foundation. Allows that emergent social movements (labor, suffrage, racial equality, feminism, etc.) are examples of unfolding psychological and sociological truths and that the status quo is not a good predictor or source of theory. This theory gives us a nice entry into next chapter (Ethics)
- Reference
- Mjøset, L. (2001). Theory: Conceptions in the social sciences. In N.J. Smelser & P.B. Baltes, (eds.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences. 23, 15641-15647
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In The Know: The importance of replication is illustrated by the aftermath of a 1989 press conference announcement by two chemists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann. They announced that they had discovered cold fusion, a source of energy similar to the sun's, but one that occurs at room temperature. Their key finding was the unexpected and excess energy that they measured in a laboratory experiment. Other chemists attempted to measure those energies, but could not replicate the results. Eventually, the initial surge of enthusiasm about cold fusion and its implications waned, especially after a group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a scathing review of methodological flaws. A few scientists are still pursuing cold fusion, but most scientists do not consider it a part of the facts about chemistry because it was not reproducible. See Voss (1999) for details about the cold--fusion controversy. |
In the Know: The course of study at medieval
universities was much different from today's curriculum. The
trivium, or introductory curriculum, consisted of three
courses: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The quadrivium, or
advanced curriculum, consisted of geometry, astronomy,
arithmetic, and music. Books were produced by hand and were
rare. Relatively few men (and hardly any women) attended the
universities, and those students came from the clergy (or
aspirants to the clergy) and the nobility.
GLOSSARY
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Constructivism |
rejects ideal theory; proposes that science is just one of many approaches to knowledge. |
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Critical theory |
rejects ideal theory; uses ethical principles as its main theoretical guide. |
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Empiricism |
the philosophical and scientific approach to knowledge that uses unbiased observation to discover truths about the world. |
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Falsifiable |
Karl Popper's method for deciding the worth of a scientific theory. Falsifiable theories allow their predictions to be tested. |
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Geocentric model |
Model of the solar system in which the earth was in the center orbited by the sun, moon, the five planets, and surrounded by the stars. |
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Heliocentric model |
Model of the solar system in which the sun is the center and the planets orbit the sun. |
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Ideal theory |
traditional theory in physical science, creates generalizable models and laws from observations of the universe. |
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Idealizing theory |
modification of of ideal theory that creates models based on a few, core variables. |
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Law--oriented theory |
modification of ideal theory that limits the universality of its theoretical constructs. |
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Natural selection |
survival and reproduction of living things best suited to particular environments. |
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Paradigm |
a global viewpoint that determines which scientific questions asked and the methods used to answer them. |
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Publish |
The record of scientific results, methods, and theories, that serves as the permanent knowledge base of science. |
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Replication |
The repetition of a scientific procedure in order to confirm the original results. |
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Reproducibility |
A defining characteristic of science. Observation conducted under the same conditions should yield the same results. |
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Science |
A method of inquiry that uses unbiased empirical observation, public methods, reproducible results, and theory to reveal universal truths about the universe. |
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Theory |
The cognitive frameworks by which scientists understand the phenomena they study and guide them toward future research. |